So, Ruyo began making good. Besides granting basic magic to the headman and a few other people to prove the concept, she summoned some bread and iron for the refugees and smiths. It was more efficient to do while at a shrine in person. After a few hours of that, though, her followers dragged her away to finally get on the ship and head south. She left Trueharbor with a Steadfast Church prayer and a promise to help them recover.

The westlanders had been pretty quiet around Ruyo lately, mostly being tourists now that their role in the war had ended. One of them, a sunburned man with a nasty scar across his cheek, looked thoughtful as he leaned against the ship's railing.

"Not seasick?" asked Ruyo.

"I'm the only one who's not. And this is our first time at sea." He watched the horizon. "I didn't realize the war was hitting people this far from the battles we were in. I assumed we were keeping the northerners at bay."

"We did. So did the rest of the army and the coastal towns. A lot of people didn't get their villages sacked thanks to what we did."

He nodded. "Whatever killed off the Lost World must've been a thousand times worse. I saw the hospital. We're just picking through old bones."

"More than that. We're trying to find the good parts of that era and bring them back."

"What about the bad parts?"

"Trust me, we're working on preventing that." She looked at his scar again. "Want me to try healing you? I've been getting better at it."

He touched the war wound. She'd helped patch him up after a fight, but he was lucky to be alive. "I remember thinking that northern bastard was about to take my head clean off. Yeah, please."

Ruyo sat beside him on a coil of rope. She summoned an elemental, little different from a ball of water she could hold up as a basic spell. The elemental, though, had a bit of life to it. She brought it close to her patient's jaw to wrap along it and sink into his flesh.

He startled but held nearly steady. Ruyo used the creature as a focus for her spell. It wasn't quite like what she'd done with a medical mage team, since she wasn't trying to permanently put an elemental in place, but similar. The theory of spirits altering the body that held them was relevant. She imagined how the healing spell could slip in a certain direction and change the man's skin to give it the same sleek texture as her own arms... but no, she didn't want that. Now that she was thinking about it she could feel how simply restoring the flesh to its old state was "uphill" by comparison. She pushed through the resistance, then with difficulty withdrew her conjured spirit and let it fade into mist.

"How is it?" her patient said, gingerly feeling along his skin.

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"Not perfect, but it's a lot less prominent." The mark wasn't so dark and jagged anymore. She held up a blob of water, as still as she could make it.

He looked at his reflection. "Yeah, that's better. Thanks, Lady."

"That was interesting," she said. "Thanks for the practice. Excuse me a moment." She looked at Nusina and silently relayed what she'd felt while doing the work.

Nusina commented, "Your healing now works a little differently. Seems to be more naturally tied into your own self-healing and changes. Want to try fixing him the rest of the way?"

"I felt some resistance. Besides the spell 'wanting' to change him I think it's limited by time and the patient's strain, too. I'm going to quit while I'm ahead."

#

They arrived in Starshore to find it intact. Ruyo let out a relieved sigh to see the harbor city of white stone with her own eyes. Right away dolphins appeared beside the ship, leaping in graceful arcs.

"I've missed them!" Ruyo said, and took off her boots.

Nusina said, "Going overboard?"

She checked her clothes for anything she might damage, then nodded and made for a rope ladder. She told a sailor, "Don't wait up; I'll be along. You're contacting the city Council, right?"

"Usually you're supposed to stay in the boat."

"I have less and less need for them." She dropped into the water and swam with the dolphins.

They swarmed around her, without any of the gator-folk's hesitation. A little too friendly, in fact. But she zipped through the harbor with magic-enhanced swimming, creating a powerful wake at the surface that the animals rode and leaped through. She led them toward her temple on the shore.

It was miles away, but she cruised the distance quickly. She leaned forward and practically fell sideways, riding a wave wherever she liked. She did a loop to see how the dolphins would react. One leaped clear over her head before joining the chase again. Meanwhile, the harbor's other craft were obstacles to dodge. She zipped past one and waved, then wobbled and lost her balance for a moment. She managed to stay up. A ferryboat's passengers stared at her and got a more careful nod. In just minutes she reached the edge of town, where a white concrete building stood tall and bright along the beach.

The Temple of Water had a channel of ocean washing directly up a sloped path and through the open doorway. The city-state's flag of blue and green flew atop the swirl-marked walls. She slowed down and balanced on the waves, then laughed. Next door, somebody had set up a wooden shack selling necklaces and trinkets made of shells and driftwood. The shopkeeper, wide-eyed, beckoned to her.

She waved back, pretending not to understand, and went inside. The open doorway had a footpath and a watery channel passing through it, so that visitors could enter by wading if so inclined.

Three people sat on the rows of benches along one wall, facing the bulky, tusk-faced man in a flowing blue robe who spoke to them in low tones. Behind him stood a pleasant altar of glass and coral. A few blank white sails dangled from the wall to muffle the echoes. The whole place had a rippling blue-tinged light that added to the sunbeams from several skylights.

The boar-like priest turned and saw her. "Lady Ruyo! Everyone, this is the goddess herself. And her companion Nusina."

The spirit flew in and swirled around the guests: a man and two women in farm clothes. "Welcome!"

Ruyo greeted them too. "And Miras. How are you?"

"This city's been good to me, Lady. People are coming in to get and keep your magic and to wish you well."

She had set this advanced temple up to automatically bestow the first three levels of magic, though the second and third would fade away without regular prayer. She asked the guests, "Are you here for the spells?"

The three looked sheepish. "Yes," said the man, "but mainly for advice on a family problem." Looked like relatives.

"Carry on then. I have some other visitors to attend to, with a shorter attention span."